‘TBR’ for Autumn. Books I hope to read this season.

‘TBR’ is a common term for bookbloggers and booklovers. It is my ‘to be read’ list. As with most readers, book lovers and especially bookbloggers, there is always a pile bigger than our bodies that we want to read, whether this be personal choice books, books agreed to read for reviews or blog tours. The whole ‘TBR’ pile is an exciting pile of words, stories and characters that will lead us to a different world for the hours we spend reading them.

 

These are the books I hope to read this Autumn. They are a mix of ones I have chosen myself and ones gifted to me by Authors for reviews. In no particular order, lets begin. 

Grannie Pants are Under Rated by Gayle Erickson.

Elle Martin has it all. Handsome and successful husband. Check. Daughter and son attending exclusive private high school. Check. Privilege, status, and wealth. Check, check, check.

But there is more to Elle’s story. 

Already struggling to keep up appearances in a social set full of pretension and ultra-competitiveness, Elle’s facade of perfection is threatened when her husband makes an announcement that will force her to confront a dark past she has successfully hidden for years. 

What will happen when long-buried secrets are unearthed and haunting new revelations are discovered? Will Elle be able to find the happy ending she so desperately seeks?

Toggling between the early nineties and the present day, Grannie Panties Are Underrated captures the Gen X experience from latchkey kid to helicopter parent with keen insight and precision. A page-turner full of surprising twists, it is a must read for anyone who has struggled to reconcile the chasm between the person they once were, the person they have become, and the person they long to be.

Thank you to Author Gayle Erickson for my copy of this book, which I am currently reading and enjoying now. I love the title, as it is so true!! 

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Jennifer Brown’s Journey by Angie Langley.

Five feet one and full of fizz, Jennifer Brown lights up the room. She has a gorgeous partner, a wicked best friend, and a boss who doesn’t mind that she’s the worst typist on the planet. She’s loyal, generous and irredeemably ditzy. Everyone loves Jennifer Brown. But can she learn to love herself?

When her world caves in, she needs every ounce of her steely core to step back from the abyss and take charge of her life, reinventing herself first as cook and housekeeper to a saucy sexagenarian, then as manager of a tumbledown country estate with sensitive secrets. Peopled by a battalion of hilarious characters from the caustic, cross-dressing confidant to the besotted ex-boyfriend with a barmy ex-wife, Jennifer Brown’s Journey is a heartwarming, thoughtful, often poignant portrait of the trials of life as a thirty-something woman. Jennifer Brown champions the importance of self-belief, and the value of a bucket-sized glass of wine in a tight spot. And, always in the background, there’s the quiet man with the warm eyes and the velvet vowels. What on earth is Jennifer Brown going to do about him?

The first in a series of three, Jennifer Brown’s Journey is a story of female self-empowerment and the triumph of the human spirit in the face of challenges that many women will recognise. Lighthearted and poignant, the story gives readers a very real sense of a woman, initially rather ditzy, maturing into a redoubtable, self-possessed individual who faces her many challenges with developing aplomb. 

Thank you to Author Angie Langley for my copy of this book. I love the cover, and I think I will find it even more interesting since the Author told me that the story is based on truth!

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The Accident by Glen Ebisch.

 

 

Karen Walker is an ex-homicide detective slowly recovering from the trauma of an automobile accident in which she was injured and her husband was killed when a drunk driver struck the car she was operating.

After a year of surgeries and attempts to come to terms with her feelings of guilt, she finds herself living the narrow life of a semi-recluse. Her seclusion comes to an end when an old friend from college, Clarissa Hammett, asks Karen to help in the search for her missing sister, Justine. Karen agrees, and she goes to live alone in the family’s summer home on the coast of southern Maine, which Justine was occupying at the time of her disappearance.

Karen even goes one step further and takes on Justine’s job as hostess in a local restaurant, hoping to learn more about the missing woman’s life from her co-workers. Conversations with the sister’s estranged husband, her present boyfriend, and a mentally disturbed young girl on the beach, lead Karen to believe that Justine’s disappearance was not voluntary and that, if still alive, she may desperately need help. 

Thank you to Author Glen Ebisch for my copy of this book. I am ready for another book of murder and suspense, and this looks to be a good one.

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A Time for Penance by Robin Storey.

 

She murdered her husband. Now she has a chance to undo her crime.

For 20 years, wealthy socialite Eva Dennehy has borne the guilt of murdering her first husband Charlie, who was planning to leave her for his mistress.

When Eva is offered the opportunity to travel back in time, and undo her crime as penance, she accepts – what does she have to lose? Back in her old life with Charlie, her passion for him surpassed only by her torment at his infidelity, she is more determined than ever to prevent him from leaving her.

But her plan plunges her into a world of crime and depravity, and she soon discovers she has even more to lose this time around.

This taut, gritty novel about jealousy, betrayal and the dark side of love will appeal to fans of suspense, crime and modern noir.

Thank you to Author Robin Storey for my copy of this book. I have only read one book of time travel, and that was The Time Traveller’s Wife. This sounds totally different, very intriguing, and as a big fan of crime and suspense books, I’m really looking forward to reading this one. 

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Dear You by Tessa Broad.

 

Tess Broad wanted children. She longed for them. It wasn’t to be. 

In this candid and moving memoir, Tess writes to the children that never were. She writes to them as their adult selves with openness and honesty and tells them of the childhood she envisaged for them and the mother she believed she would be. She describes her reluctant transformation from the woebegone, wannabe mummy that she once was, to the woman she is now; childless but chilled, sailing through Mother’s Day with a smile on her face. Happy. 

From the ‘trying for a family’ stage to the relentless treadmill of infertility treatment, Tess recounts her story with humour and pathos, taking the reader on her journey with her, sharing her experiences, the roller-coaster ride of IVF, the sudden departure of the husband whose children she wanted to have and ultimately to acceptance that the life she wanted and expected was not hers for the taking. This is a breathtaking memoir that offers a shoulder to lean on for everyone experiencing the uncertainties and pain of infertility.

Thank you to Red Door Publishers and Author Tessa Broad for my copy of this book. I am expecting this book to be heart wrenching, therapeutic and relateable. This will be reviewed as part of a blog tour for Infertility Week at the end of October. 

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Hiding In Plain Sight, by Susan Lewis.

 

Andee Lawrence is in heaven. Well, the South of France to be exact. 

Ex-detective Andee has swapped freelance investigation and a broken marriage, for two months in Provence, renovating a beautiful villa with the new man in her life. Pottering around a small picturesque town on an early summer’s day, she is at peace.

But her world is about to be shattered.

‘Remember me?’ 

Two words spoken by a woman from the back of a car that say so much yet reveal so little.
As the car drives away Andee is left reeling, overwhelmed by shock, confusion, self-doubt and mounting trepidation.

Almost thirty years ago, fourteen year old Penny had disappeared from her family’s life, never to be heard from again. It is the missing child case that has haunted Andee her whole life; And now Penny – Andee’s sister – is back.

The question is: why?

I read the last Susan Lewis book that was published and really enjoyed it. This one sounds like it has a slight carry on story with the main characters missing sister, but also a whole new plot. Susan Lewis’ books come highly recommended to me, so I’m hoping this one will be really good too.

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So this is my Autumn reading list so far. It may change, I am a mood reader, so we shall see where it goes. But for now my tbr is looking good. 

Have you read any of these? Which do you think looks good.